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12-year-old phenom wins US Junior Men’s crown

This will come as no surprise to those of us who saw 10- year-old Nathan Chen win Novice Men in Spokane, but the two- time Novice Champion has won Juniors on his first try. Skating to “The Godfather”, Chen was pretty much flawless. He started off with a beautiful 3Lz3T and never looked back, landing seven triples altogether and receiving level 4’s for two spins. His footwork seemed to cover two lengths of the rink. It has to be frustrating for his 16-year-old competitors, some of whom are more than a foot taller than Chen, to be so technically outgunned. Yes, he still needs to expand artistically, and will inevitably have to deal with a growth spurt , but the future’s looking awfully bright.

Chen is the youngest US Junior Men’s champion in recent history. I’m still trying to determine if he is the youngest ever. He’s too young to compete at Junior Worlds.

Timothy Dolensky was second, and Philip Warren was third.

A fun first day for us in San Jose, even if it is now 1:01 AM EST with me having gotten up at 5:30 AM!!